Monday, December 01, 2014

All the propaganda

Baghdad, 1 December 2014 – According to casualty figures released
today by UNAMI, a total of 1,232 Iraqis were killed and another 2,434
were wounded in acts of terrorism and violence in November 2014.

The number of civilians killed was 936 (including 61 civilian
police), while the number of civilians injured was 1,826 (including 71
civilian police). A further 296 members of the Iraqi Security Forces
were killed (including Peshmerga, SWAT and militias fighting alongside
Iraqi Army / not including casualties from Anbar Operations) and 608
were injured. “With nearly 12,000 people killed and nearly 22,000 injured since the
beginning of 2014, Iraqis continue to be daily subjected to the
unspeakable horrors of killing, maiming, reign of terror, displacement,
extreme forms of intolerance and poverty”, Mr. Mladenov said. “I take
this opportunity to continue encouraging the Iraqi political, religious
and social leaders to act decisively to rise above their differences in
order to resolve the pending political, social and economic problems,
and restore confidence among Iraq’s communities, more particularly those
disaffected groups, as part of consolidating the democratic process”.Baghdad was the worst affected Governorate with 1,253 civilian
casualties (332 killed, 921 injured). According to information obtained
by UNAMI from the Health Directorate in Anbar, the Governorate suffered
a total of 1,026 civilian casualties (402 killed and 624 injured).
This included 71 killed and 437 injured in Ramadi and 331 killed and
187 injured in Fallujah. Salah al-Din recorded 74 killed and 114
injured while Diyala recorded 37 killed and 71 injured.CAVEATS: In general, UNAMI has been hindered in effectively verifying
casualties in conflict areas. Figures for casualties from Anbar
Governorate are provided by the Health Directorate and are noted below.
In some cases, UNAMI could only partially verify certain incidents.
UNAMI has also received, without being able to verify, reports of large
numbers of casualties along with unknown numbers of persons who have
died from secondary effects of violence after having fled their homes
due to exposure to the elements, lack of water, food, medicines and
health care. For these reasons, the figures reported have to be
considered as the absolute minimum.Disclaimer: The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq undertakes
monitoring of the impact of armed violence and terrorism on Iraqi
civilians in accordance with its mandate. UNAMI relies on direct
investigation, along with credible secondary sources, in determining
civilian casualties. UNAMI figures are conservative and may
under-report the actual number of civilians killed and injured for a
variety of reasons. Where different casualty figures are obtained for
the same incident, the figure as verified by UNAMI is used.

Their ability to undercount is breathtaking.

As ridiculous as that nonsense is, so are the efforts in the western press to make the Islamic State look like some flea-bag-ridden group that's out of several centuries ago. Zee News carries an unsigned 'report' from AFP that the Times of India and the Daily Mail have already felt the need to carry.

The idiotic article -- or propaganda -- is about Mosul and the thrust of the piece is, "Now, nearly six months later, residents there are suffering from a lack
of clean water and also a shortage of medicine to treat illnesses caused
by it."

Because the Islamic State destroyed Mosul's brand new sewage system and the water plant and --

Oh, wait.

That didn't happen.

Mosul, like the rest of Iraq, suffers from potable water.

Mosul, like the rest of Iraq, suffers this time of year every year for over a decade now.

The United Nations distributes purification tablets to help with the water issue -- in addition to the tablets, the water can also be boiled first in order to be potable (safe to drink).

I don't doubt that the Islamic State hinders the delivery of purification tablets.

I do doubt outlets that have to lie.

How stupid are you that, covering a group like the Islamic State which beheads people, which targets and threatens, you have to lie about the group?

You should have more than enough to cover without lying about them.

We're not even linking to the ridiculous articles about the man from India who joined IS but returned because they made him clean toilets.

That's one of those propaganda pieces as well, "Oh, look at how backward they are, ha ha."

In the real world, this nonsense shouldn't even be promoted.

National Iraqi News Agency also reported on the Islamic State and Mosul. They didn't falsely pretend Iraq had potable water -- except for Mosul! They weren't interested in some foreigner who refused to scrub a toilet.

They reported that the people in Mosul, already suffering, have now been cut off, the Islamic State's managed to take down the mobile phone system.

About Me

We do not open attachments. Stop e-mailing them. Threats and abusive e-mail are not covered by any privacy rule. This isn't to the reporters at a certain paper (keep 'em coming, they are funny). This is for the likes of failed comics who think they can threaten via e-mails and then whine, "E-mails are supposed to be private." E-mail threats will be turned over to the FBI and they will be noted here with the names and anything I feel like quoting.
This also applies to anyone writing to complain about a friend of mine. That's not why the public account exists.